the doppelganger | xiuchen

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"Hi, you must be Minseok. I'm Luhan."

Minseok brightened at the familiar name. "Ah, yes, I recognize you from the pictures you sent." Luhan was Minseok's pen pal from his Chinese class. "Hello. You can call me Xiumin here."

"I'm the one who came up with that name for him," Chen said proudly. "That's why it's so good."

Luhan shook his head. "It's a shame you met Chen first. We're actually normal and very manly."

Chen laughed. "Have you looked in a mirror lately? Kris, Tao, and maybe Yixing make the cut but you don't even come close." He turned to face Minseok. "Aren't I right?"

Minseok smiled in response.

xxx

"Here is your order, and thank you again for letting me stay today."

"It's fine . . . Jongdae," Minseok said as he accepted his drink. "It's only fair for you to stay until the end. Besides, like I said before, I wasn't planning on working today. I'm technically still on leave."

At the other register, Baekhyun shot Minseok a surprised look. Not that the latter could blame the troublemaker; even Minseok was surprised at himself for speaking so much. He was usually an introverted person outside of the barista uniform.

"Excuse me." Someone behind Minseok tapped his shoulder. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're sort of holding up the line."

"Oh!" Minseok quickly stepped aside and turned around to apologize. "Sorry, I -- hey!"

Chanyeol, towering over Minseok, smiled down at him. "Hyung! I thought it was you. Baekhyun said you returned."

Minseok smiled back. "Yeah. It feels weird to see you at this time. You're usually only here during or as soon as Baekhyun's shift is over."

Chanyeol laughed. "Ha, yeah. Anyway, my turn to order now!" He stepped forward to Jongdae, forcing Minseok to walk away.

His original plan had been to say hello to everyone quickly and go back home to unpack, but Minseok found himself going to a small table in a corner where he could keep an eye on the baristas behind the counter.

This new plan also fell apart when a certain high-schooler plopped himself into the seat across from him, blocking his view.

"Hi. Suho hyung told me you came back."

Minseok turned to face Sehun, Suho's younger brother. "Hi, Sehu-- you dyed your hair again?"

Sehun shrugged and reached up to ruffle his orange hair. "It's been like this for a while now. I might change it back to normal, though. Should I get a perm, instead?"

Minseok shook his head. "Instead of focusing on your hair, you should focus on your grades. You're a senior now."

Sehun groaned. "You sound just like Suho hyung," he complained. "Seriously, he told me to come here so he can yell at me about something." He then took a sip from his bubble tea.

"Hey, how can you drink that in here?" Minseok asked. "Don't you know that bubble tea store is our rival?"

"That's why I drink it."

It must be nice to be so young, Minseok thought to himself. If only he could dye his hair and act in the carefree way Sehun did.

The sudden ringing of a phone cut Minseok from his sentiments.

"Sorry," he said to Sehun, who was scrolling through his phone himself.

"Hello?" Minseok said into the phone.

"Xiumin? It's me, Yixing."

"Yixing?" He looked back at the phone number. It was unknown, but it had the Korean area code. "Are you in Korea?" He then realized something else. "You can speak Korean?"

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm in Korea. Luhan gave me your address. I have to visit somewhere first, but I think I'll be able to see you in a few days or so. Is that okay?"

Minseok was dumbfounded. "I -- I guess so," he stammered. "But, why did you come?"

There was a long silence before Yixing answered. "It's . . . about Chen."